Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 112,296 Shares of Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:AURA) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,917,730 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 112,296 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 3.84% of Aura Biosciences worth $15,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Aura Biosciences by 3.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 754,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,725,000 after buying an additional 26,841 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Aura Biosciences in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,037,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Aura Biosciences by 256.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,000 after purchasing an additional 43,897 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Aura Biosciences by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,990,000 after buying an additional 39,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Aura Biosciences by 14.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,668,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,571,000 after purchasing an additional 215,597 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.75% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Aura Biosciences

In other news, insider Los Pinos Elisabet De sold 15,955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.67, for a total value of $122,374.85. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 304,692 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,336,987.64. This represents a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Conor Kilroy sold 7,162 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.49, for a total transaction of $39,319.38. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 179,313 shares in the company, valued at $984,428.37. This represents a 3.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,104 shares of company stock valued at $221,486. Company insiders own 5.40% of the company’s stock.

Aura Biosciences Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Aura Biosciences stock opened at $5.36 on Friday. Aura Biosciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $4.84 and a 52 week high of $12.38. The company has a market cap of $269.21 million, a PE ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $6.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.18.

Aura Biosciences (NASDAQ:AURA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 24th. The company reported ($0.52) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.43) by ($0.09). As a group, research analysts anticipate that Aura Biosciences, Inc. will post -1.66 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on AURA. JMP Securities set a $19.00 price objective on Aura Biosciences in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. HC Wainwright set a $25.00 target price on Aura Biosciences in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Aura Biosciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Aura Biosciences in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $22.75.

About Aura Biosciences

Aura Biosciences, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, develops precision immunotherapies to treat a range of solid tumors. The company's proprietary platform enables the targeting of a range of solid tumors using virus-like particles conjugated with drugs or loaded with nucleic acids to create virus-like drug conjugates.